The present invention relates to a fitness machine with a carriage which is mounted in a movable manner on a carrier element, is intended for at least one person and has at least one actuating element and energy-store elements.
Such fitness machines are known and available commercially in a wide range of different forms and design.
Known, for example, is a rowing machine or the like by means of which a carriage can be displaced in relation to a rail during a rowing movement. In this case, the carriage can be moved in relation to a mounting arrangement for feet, or the feet element of the same, and is arranged on a carrier element.
Instead of individual actuating elements, it is possible, in the fitness machines known in the prior art, for a force-activated spring element or a chain-operated flywheel to be driven in order to produce a rowing force.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,532 discloses a fitness machine in which two carriages are arranged in a movable manner on a carrier. Said carriages are each connected to an elastic band connected to those. The two carriages may be deflected by means of a foot. This deflection causes the elastic band to be subjected to stressing and requires a certain application of force.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,005 discloses a fitness machine, a carriage being arranged in a movable manner on a carrier. At one end the carriage is connected to a spring element and at the other end it is connected via a non-elastic retaining cable, which is guided from an end-side carrier, via a deflecting roller, back to the carriage. By virtue of the retaining cable being pulled, the carriage can be moved in the direction of the end position, and at the same time, by virtue of this movement, the elastic bands are subjected to stressing at the other end. By virtue of the retaining cable being released, the carriage moves back again into its end position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,879 describes a fitness machine in which a carriage can be moved back and forth in relation to a carrier element which can be adjusted about a bearing means. In particular by virtue of the carrier element being pivoted about the bearing means, it is possible to adjust the angled position, with the result that a user has to move the carriage, for example, in the upward direction back and forth about a rest position. The steeper the angle at which the carrier is set, the greater is the force, via the user""s dead weight, which has to be applied in order to move the carriage upward.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,982,872 describes a fitness machine with a framework which can be adjusted upward in an inclined manner in relation to an underlying surface. A carriage is mounted in a movable manner along said framework. By means of a cable, a user can move the carriage out of a rest position into an elevated end position and, by virtue of the cable being released, the carriage automatically slides back again into its starting position with the user.
FR 2 245 332 describes a fitness apparatus, in particular a rowing machine, in which a carriage is provided for moving the feet back and forth.
The object of the present invention is to provide a fitness machine of the above-mentioned type which can be used universally and by means of which a number of different movements and, if appropriate, accelerations are possible.
This object is achieved in that, by virtue of at least one energy-store element being subjected to the action of the actuating element arranged on the carriage, the carriage can be accelerated into a reciprocating movement, caused by the energy-store element about its rest position.
The carriage, with a mounting arrangement for feet and a seat element, which is arranged such that it can be displaced, if appropriate, on the carriage, can be moved back and forth out of a preferably central rest position by actuation of the actuating element. The actuating element is coupled to a force-transmitting element via tie elements. Two tie elements are preferably provided in this case, these being deflected on the carriage and engaging in a force-transmitting element. The force-transmitting element is secured on at least one energy-store element.
In the preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention, the energy-store element is formed as a rubber element, in particular from a plurality of rubber elements which, on the end sides, engage, via deflecting elements, in a corresponding guide rail, run through the latter and are secured at the other end.
The energy-store elements are prestressed correspondingly in this rest position.
By virtue of the actuating element being moved, on account of the inertia of the dead weight of the carriage and of the body weight, one energy-store element on one side of the force-transmitting element is subjected to stressing and the other energy-store element, on the opposite side of the force-transmitting element, is relieved of stressing. This results in a force counter to a direction of travel. The carriage is moved counter to a direction of travel.
Subsequent movement of the actuating element back causes, in the reverse direction, the energy-store element to be correspondingly subjected to pressure, with the result that the carriage is accelerated in the direction of travel.
By virtue of the actuating element being correspondingly moved back and forth, one of the two energy-store elements is expanded or relieved of loading. As a result, the entire carriage, with the mounting arrangement and the seat element, can be moved back and forth about a rest position, accelerated and, in particular, made to move in reciprocating manner.
The greater the deflection about a rest position, the greater is the speed and the acceleration by which the carriage can be made to move in a reciprocating manner through the rest position.
If, for example, an end position is reached, then one of the two energy-store elements is relieved of loading and the other is fully subjected to loading. In this way, with a carrier element of preferably long design, it is possible for very high speeds and large deflections to take place about a rest position.
Instead of the energy-store elements designed as rubber elements, it is also possible here to provide spring elements, weights or the like.
It is also intended to lie within the scope of the idea of the present invention that, for example, the mounting arrangement can be moved in relation to the then fixed seat element and, as a result, a reciprocating movement, in particular stressing and expanding of the energy-store elements, can take place via the force-transmitting element. It is then possible for the actuating element to be dispensed with or provided in addition.
It is also intended to lie within the scope of the present invention that, for example, the person or persons on the carriage can be accelerated back and forth about a rest position by actuation of corresponding actuating elements.
Furthermore, it is also intended to exchange the corresponding energy-store elements, to replace them by energy-store elements of larger or smaller dimensions or even to influence the prestressing in order to have an effect, for example, on the different forces which have to be applied in order to make the carriage and a person move in a reciprocating manner.
It is likewise intended to lie within the scope of the present invention that it is not just the linear movement of the carriage on the carrier element which is possible, but that the carrier element may be designed in a circular, semicircular or undulating manner in order that a carriage can be made to reciprocate back and forth along this contour. It is further conceivable for the carrier element to be designed such that it is inclined or even steeply inclined, if appropriate even up to a vertical position, in relation to an underlying surface, in order also to allow an acceleration, for example, in the upward direction. The energy-store elements are then dimensioned differently accordingly. Reciprocating movement in the upward and downward direction is possible here.